Local Build Plugin

Generate shell scripts that build a release APK and a simulator .app for your React Native Expo project, wired up to your actual app name, scheme, and bundle identifier.

What This Plugin Does

Reads your Expo config (app.config.ts, app.config.js, or app.json) to pull your app name, slug, bundle identifier, and Android package.
Verifies the iOS scheme on disk so the build command matches what Xcode generated during prebuild.
Writes scripts/build-android.sh that runs ./gradlew assembleRelease and copies the APK into builds/.
Writes scripts/build-ios.sh that runs xcodebuild for the iOS Simulator in Release mode and copies the .app bundle into builds/.
Makes both scripts executable and adds builds/ to .gitignore.
Prints ready-to-paste install/launch commands using your real bundle identifier and package name.

When to Use

You want to produce an installable APK or .app without waiting on a remote build
You're setting up e2e tests (Maestro, Detox) that need a real artifact on a simulator or emulator
You want to hand a teammate a build to click through without spinning up a dev server
You're iterating locally and want a fast release build on your own machine

Why Release Instead of Debug

Expo projects include expo-dev-client in Debug builds, which shows the "Development Servers" picker on launch. For any flow where you want the app to open into your real UI, you need a Release build — that's what the generated scripts produce.

How It Differs from EAS

eas build does the same thing in the cloud and is the right call for production signing, store submission, and CI. This plugin is for the local path — when you already have Xcode and the Android SDK installed and you want the build to happen on your machine for speed and iteration.

Generated Layout

After running the skill, your project will have:

scripts/
  build-android.sh
  build-ios.sh
builds/              # gitignored
  <slug>.apk         # latest Android build
  <AppName>.app/     # latest iOS simulator build

Each script run replaces the previous artifact, so builds/ always holds the latest.

Requirements

An Expo project with ios/ and android/ folders generated (npx expo prebuild if missing)
Xcode (for iOS builds)
Android SDK and a working gradlew wrapper (standard in Expo-generated android/)

License

MIT

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